Control device for radio receiving apparatus



B. FRANKLIN CONTROL DEVICE FOR RADIO RECEIVING APPARATUS sept. 21, 1937;

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CONTROL DEVICE FOR RADIO RECEIVING APPARATUS Filed March 1o, 1936 2 sheets-sheet 2 WN ma .\ANN

Patented Sept. 21, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTROL DEVICE FOR RADIO RECEIVING APPARATUS Benjamin Franklin, Haynesville, Va., assignor,

by mesne assignments, to Mark S.

Mount Holly, Va.

Willing,

Application March 10, 1936, Serial No. 68,109

3 Claims.

,l and thus obtain the best possible tones over the apparatus.

Another object is the provision of a control attachment of comparatively simple and inexpensive construction which is composed of rela- .10 tively sturdy parts not likely to get out of order and which does not require any minute movements in any of the mechanically operable portions thereof.

More specifically, the invention contemplates 2.0 a control mechanism or attachment for radio receiving apparatus wherein a plurality of variable condensers or tuning in devices are provided in conjunction with mechanically operable means for rendering said condensers operable individually and in a sequence depending upon the broadcasting programs which the user desires to obtain. In other words, the present apparatus comprises a plurality of variable condensers, there being a condenser for each broadcasting station the user desires to tune in on, and mechanically operable means for rendering the individual condensers operable. in any desired order. Thus, after each condenser is set, so to speak, at the point where it will best receive the program .35 being broadcast from a given station, the several condensers are mechanically rendered operative in any desired order, so that the desired portions of the programs from the several stations will be received on the receiving apparatus. For instance, the program from the same station may be tuned on the apparatus any number of times during the day and will always be clearly received by reason of the fact that the several condensers 45 are manually set, so that they operate with maximum efficiency.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, all

50 as will hereinafter be more fully described and the novel features thereof particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the upper portion of a radio receiving apparatus cabinet (Cl. Z50-20) illustrating more or less diagrammatically the present control attachment;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the control dial and cooperating rotating contact arm for rendering the several tuning in devices individually 5 operable;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through the structure illustrated in Fig. 2 and the front wall of the cabinet;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatical illustration of the l0 manner in which the several condensers are individually coupled into circuit by the present control attachment; and

Fig, 5 is a detail sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2. l5

In the present illustration, three tuning in devices or variable condensers are illustrated at A, B and C, respectively, the same. being manually adjustable by the knobs A, B and C' at the exterior of the cabinet I0. Mounted on the inner surface of the front wall of the cabinet is a support having contact elements for connecting into the condenser circuit of the apparatus any one of the several condensers illustrated and also for closing the tube circuit of the receiving apparatus in synchronism with the closing of the individual circuits through the condensers. Preferably, these contact elements are circular and arranged concentrically with one another. The tube circuit is indicated as comprising leads I2 30 and I3, which are attached to the two inner circular Contact rings I4, I5, on support I| and arranged on said support concentric with contacts I4, I5, are two sectional contact rings I6, Il, the length of the individual sections of each of these last two rings corresponding to a desired period of time for purposes which will hereinafter appear. A shaft I9 adapted to be rotated through gears 20, 2| and 22 from a clock mechanism 23, has an arm I8 mounted thereon and mounted 40 on said arm are contact pieces 24, 25, 26 and 21. Contacts 25 and 26 are connected together by wire 28 and contact pieces 24, 2l, are connected together by wire 29. Also, contacts 25, 26, engage the circular contacts I5 and I6, while con- 45 tacts 24, 2l, engage the circular Contact rings I4 and I'I. Connected to each one of the sections of ring I6 is a contact member 30 and connected to each of the sections of ring |1 is a flexible nger 3| also constituting a contact member. Norr mally, these contacts 30, 3|, are separated but the contacts for any pair of sections can be brought into engagement by means of a plug insertable through any one of the series of openings 32 in the front wall of the cabinet, there being an opening in the cabinet for each pair of contact ring sections. In the present instance, each section of contacts I6, Il, represents the distance arm I8 will be rotated in one hours time, there being twenty-four sections in each of the rings I6, Il, and the gearing through which the arm is rotated being so proportioned that said arm will inake one complete revolution every twenty-four hours. However, it will be appreciated that the length of the individual sections of rings IB, I'I, may be reduced to represent fractions of hours.

Near the perimeter of support I I are two additional contact rings, the outermost ring 33 being continuous and the other ring 34, arranged concentrically radially inward of ring 33, being made in sections corresponding to the sections of rings I6, I'I. Also mounted on arm IB are two contact members 35, 36, connected to each other bywire 3'I and these contacts are adapted to engage ring 33 and the sections of ring 34, respectively. EX- tending from ring 33 is a line 38 Which constitutes one side of the condenser circuit whose leads are shown at 39, 40, and the plugs, which are inserted through openings 32, each carry a contactr band I adapted to engage a contact nger 62, there being va finger i2 connected to each section of contact ring 34." A wire 33, of course properly protected, extends from the contact band lil of each plug and isadapted to be secured to the binding post M of any one of the several oondensers.

Referring particularly to Fig. 4, the apparatus is illustrated as being connected up for controlling the reception of two radio programs from each of three broadcasting stations. Assuming the uppermost aperture, denoted at X, represents the position of arm I8 at six oclocl: a. m., the plug P1 in the next aperture will cause the condenser B to be cut into` circuit at seven oclock. At that hour, the condenser circuit would run from line 39 to line 38, contact ring 33, contact 35, wire 3'I, contact 36, one of the sections of contact ring 34, finger 42, plug P1, wire 43, binding post 4t, wire 45v to condenser B, and from said condenser by line 43 to line lli). At the time the arm I3 established the circuit at six oclock, as above outlined, the tube circuit would be closed through the four inner contact rings andwould be opened at the expiration of the hour `as will be readily understood. At the expiration of the hour the program from'that particular station will be cut off due to the fact that arm 38 would then move into engagement with sectionsof the several contact rings that were not connected by reason of the absence of a plug. `Still referring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that at noon the same circuit would be established by reason of one of the plugs, P2, having been inserted to close the kcontacts 30, 3l, for the tube circuit and to also close the circuit for the condensers through the contact finger i2 and the contact band AI. At three oclock p. m., the circuit will be closed through condenser A, by reason of plug P3, inserted in the opening 33, representing that hour, and said circuit will be broken at four oclock, but re-established at six oclock p. m., by reason of plug P4. On each of these occasions, the tube circuit will also be closed, as previously described. At the time the circuit is closed through condenser A, it comprises lead 39 and line 3s to contact ring es and from the section of ring 313 corresponding to the hours designated through the plug and wire 43 to binding post M of condenser A, and from said condenser through line VI to lead Iii] of the condenser circuit. Also, as shown in Fig. 4, the tube circuits and the circuits for condenser C will be closed by reason of plugs P5 and PG, respectively. It will be appreciated that any number of plugs may be used for cutting in, so to speak, the radio any number of times during the day. The binding posts or other means of attaching the wires 43 to the several condensers may be made to accommodate any number of connections and, likewise, any number of condensers may be used, depending upon the number of stations it is desired to listen in on, one condenser being used for each station. It will also be apparent that any one station may be cut in on any desired number of times during the twenty-four hours. By the present arrangement, the user need only adjust the several condensers to a point where the best reception will be had from the several broadcasting stations, and then insert the plugs in the openings 32 corresponding to those hours of the day when he wishes to listen in on the several stations, whereupon the desired programs will be received without further eiort on the part of the user. The manual manipulation of the variable condensers insures eiiiciency in the reception.

In the event the automatic control is to be dispensed with, a switch indicated at 5t is closed to establish the circuit through condenser A, and all plugs are removed from the control dial.

What I claim is:

1. Radio apparatus comprising a plurality of condensers each adapted to tune said apparatus to 4a predetermined frequency, a control mechanism for said apparatus comprising a plurality of groups of contact members adapted to control the power circuit of said apparatus, a switching element movable to sequentially engage the contact members of each of said groups and an addi. tional Contact member engageable by said switching element and adapted to be connected to one of said condensers, a plug element connected to each condenser and engageable with said additional contact member, and means responsive to engagement of said plug member to prepare a circuit with said power control contacts whereby said switching element will simultaneously completethe power circuit and connect the condenser.

2. Radio apparatus such as set forth in claim 1 wherein the groups of power circuit control contacts and said additional Contact member are concentrically arranged and said switching element is rotated by a clock mechanism to engage said contact members.

3. Radio apparatus such as set forth in claim l wherein the means responsive to engagement of the plug member for preparing the circuit with the power control contacts consist of a pair of normally separated contact members, one oi which is engaged by said plug member and moved 

